


Side by Side

by 1848pianist



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Charles Xavier in a Wheelchair, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mutant Politics, Pre-Relationship, Social Justice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21718822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1848pianist/pseuds/1848pianist
Summary: Charles is hired by the Mutant Affairs Department of the prestigious tech company Technogenesis straight out of his MBA program. The director, Erik Lehnsherr, has a deep distrust of the corporate world and the weight of the mutant race on his shoulders.Prompt: Business or Office AU. Charles is the fresh out of getting a fancy MBA new hire and Erik is the started from the bottom now I’m here manager/exec.
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 14
Kudos: 45
Collections: Secret Mutant Exchange 2019





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GalaxyRise489](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalaxyRise489/gifts).



> If you give a nonprofit worker a business AU prompt, they will inevitably write a social commentary. 
> 
> This went off the rails quite a bit, but I hope it still resembles what you were looking for!

Charles knew he’d gotten the job as soon as he left the interview. He hadn’t needed his telepathy to know that he’d hit it off immediately with his interviewer – it was odd that the top manager of the Mutant Affairs Department still did all his interviews in person, but no matter – and he felt genuine excitement at the thought of starting the job. 

Working for Technogenesis had been the dream for many of his classmates, especially the handful of technopaths in the department. Founded by mutants, a leading employer of mutants, and now wildly profitable, the company was that rare combination of ethical and successful.

When Charles had said where exactly he was interviewing, though – the Mutant Affairs Department, newly created under the umbrella of Human Resources – he’d received mixed responses. With his grades and his skill, he could easily have gone into something more lucrative. His advisor especially tried to talk him out of it, but he wanted to do something different. Something good. It wasn’t as if he needed the money.

He'd gotten a fair number of warnings about the department’s manager, too. No matter, though: after the interview, he was surer than ever that things would work out. Erik Lehnsherr had hardly looked at his resume once they started talking about his plans for the department – lobbying for insurance that covered mutant health specialists, providing better cultural sensitivity training for all new hires, and challenging wage discrimination against employees with visible mutations.

Charles couldn’t agree more, and he said so.

“Good,” Erik said. “You’d be surprised how many people are resistant to these kinds of changes, even here.”

“What do you mean?”

“How much do you know about the company?”

“Founded in 1992 as a directory for mutant-created tech, quickly became a hub for the mutant internet, now a leading company in mainstream software design, web development, and data processing. ‘Technology to drive humanity forward,’ as the slogan goes.” He had done his research.

Erik raised an eyebrow. “Sure, but have you taken a look at the current board?”

“Of course. They’re all leaders in the industry.”

“And all of them baseline humans. Technogenesis isn’t the progressive startup it used to be. The Mutant Affairs Department was created to save the company’s reputation, but I intend to do more than serve as a publicity stunt. Do you know that some of the departments here write code for the Sentinel Project?”

Charles blinked. “I didn’t come across that in my research.”

“That’s because Technogenesis doesn’t want anyone to know about it. Wouldn’t be good for its image. But you seem like the kind of person who might be able to help me change that.”

“Yes,” Charles said. “What you’re doing here, I think it’s exactly what the world needs. I’d love to be a part of it.”

“Good. I’ll give you a call next week.”

“Excellent. It was lovely to meet you, Mr. Lehnsherr. I look forward to working with you.”

Erik stood to shake his hand. “Call me Erik, please. Do you mind seeing yourself out? I have another meeting in five minutes, and you wouldn’t believe the number of emails that came in while we were talking.”

“No trouble at all.”

Now, outside the Technogenesis skyscraper in the driving December snow, Charles felt like cheering. Less than a month out of business school and he’d already landed a job – a rewarding one, no less. And if all his coworkers were as dedicated as Erik seemed – well, it sounded too good to be true.

*

His first day was two weeks later. He arrived early, eager to get started, only to find Erik looking harassed and irritable in the front lobby.

“Good morning,” Charles said, wondering if it should be a question instead.

“You’re early.”

“Yes. I can leave you alone if that’s a problem?”

Erik shook his head. “It’s not a problem for me. The elevator’s down. I was hoping this company might have the competence to repair it before you got here.” He directed a glower at the front desk.

“Surely a place like Technogenesis has more than one elevator.”

“Only one that goes to the Mutant Affairs Department, though.” Erik sighed heavily. “This place is a maze, and we’re in the most out-of-the-way corner of the building. Naturally.”

“Nowhere to go but up, then?”

“That’s one way of looking at it. Here, there’s a conference room on this floor that we can use. I just have to run upstairs to grab my laptop and the rest of the team. Such as it is.”

Charles thought he would be more annoyed about the broken elevator if Erik wasn’t so irritated on his behalf.

“Sounds good. At least there’s coffee in this lobby.”

Erik snorted and rubbed his forehead. “All right. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“I’ll be here.”

While Erik ran upstairs, Charles observed the other people in the lobby. Thanks to his telepathy, he could that several of the building’s occupants were mutants, including the man at the front desk – a pyrokinetic, in fact – but it seemed that Erik had a point in his interview. The employees milling around drinking coffee and waiting for the remaining working elevator were noticeably lacking in the visible mutations so proudly displayed on Technogenesis’s website.

 _Small sample size, though_ , Charles thought to himself.

Erik returned a moment later with a short, dark-haired woman and a woman with striking dragonfly-like wings.

“Charles, Kitty, Angel,” Erik said, gesturing to each of them in turn.

“Pleasure to meet you.”

Erik looked back at Charles. “You might run into Hank McCoy, too – he was on the team until one of the experimental coding projects snapped him up.”

“No surprise,” Kitty added. “Brilliant coder.”

Erik nodded. “Obviously we want to have as representative a team as possible – especially so that Angel doesn’t have to take all of the cases with mutants with visible mutations by default.”

“The better we are at our jobs, the more the higher-ups will see the need for our department, and the more staff we can hire, right?” Angel smirked and rolled her eyes. “In theory.”

“Not to scare you off,” Kitty said. “Whatever Erik says, there are some good things happening at Technogenesis. All in our department, of course.”

“Naturally,” Charles agreed.

“Great, I like him already,” Kitty said.

“Good, because you two will be working together. Let’s get started.” Erik started walking towards the conference room.

“He doesn’t waste time, does he?” Charles asked.

“Not when the future of mutantkind is at stake,” Angel grinned. “According to him, we’re saving lives, one stack of paperwork at a time.”

“Not such a bad thing, I suppose. It’s good to care about something.”

Kitty smiled. “Oh, he does. You’ll see. Come on, we should get going before he comes back to yell at us.”

“Yes, it wouldn’t do to make a bad impression on my first day.”

They followed Erik to the meeting room, which was indeed sandwiched between two offices in an out-of-the-way hallway. Charles thought he’d like to have a word with the architect of this building about all the ninety-degree corners.

Angel poked her head in, wings buzzing with curiosity. “Huh. So this is the first floor conference room.”

Kitty inspected one of the rolling chairs. “I’m disappointed. I thought it was either going to be fucking palatial or a total dumpster.”

“It’s a conference room,” Erik said.

“Yeah, but it’s not _our_ conference room. It’s the _first-floor_ conference room.”

“So, a conference room.” Erik snapped open his laptop. “Right. Charles, as you might know, our department has two primary responsibilities. We deal with cases of mutant discrimination—”

Angel waved. “That’s me.”

“—and we work with Human Resources to improve company culture for mutants. Call it our curative and preventative arms. You and Kitty will be working on a training program for all Technogenesis employees.”

“I look forward to it,” Charles said.

Kitty grinned. “HR won’t know what hit them. Technogenesis is going to be so genetically competent, they’ll have to invent a new species of hominid just to show off how accepting and inclusive they are.”

“More like, we’ll be so genetically competent, we’ll be put on a government watch list,” Angel said.

“Ouch. Fair.”

“Moving on,” Erik said. “Charles, you’ve had some experience creating training programs already, yes?”

“I do, yes. Most recently, working with another company last year to update their employee handbook as part of my MBA coursework.”

Erik blinked, freezing halfway through doing something with his laptop. Angel volunteered a shocked laugh.

Charles hesitated. “Uh—”

Kitty leaned forward. “You have an MBA? That’s amazing. Erik, I’m impressed. This department’s moving up in the world.”

“I just can’t believe Erik hired someone from the corporate dark side,” Angel said. “No offense, Charles. I’m sure you’re eminently qualified. Erik here is just very set in his ‘we are of the people’ ways.”

Erik scowled. “Which is why I hired you based on your experience working with the mutant community. Didn’t you convince your alma mater to launch a brand-new instructor training program dealing with the intersection of mutant and disability rights? And anyway, your application form said you were twenty-one.”

“Well, yes, I am. But I understand the confusion – I graduated early from college, is all. Where I did indeed work with the administration on the instructor training.”

“That must have been a hell of a successful project for Erik to overlook the fact that you have an MBA,” Angel said.

“I can’t say I was expecting that to be a point against me, to be perfectly honest.”

“It doesn’t count against you,” Erik said quickly. “I just prefer to hire people with…direct experience. People who spend too long inside the system often stop seeing its faults.”

“I can assure you, I have not. And I’ve hardly been in the system too long.”

“Good. Then it’s not an issue.”

“Good.”

“Can we go back to welcoming the extremely qualified new hire instead of scaring him off?” Kitty asked. “I was getting used to having a teammate.”

“Yes. Let’s,” Erik sighed.

By the time they took a break for lunch, the maintenance staff had finished repairing the elevator. As Kitty and Angel left discussing the nearby Thai options, Charles pulled Erik aside.

“Is it going to be a problem that I have a graduate degree? Because I’d rather just know than have you resent me the whole time I’m here.”

“It won’t be a problem. I was just surprised.”

“It was on my resume. Quite prominently, I might add.”

“Yeah, well. It’s been a busy week. As I said, it’s not an issue. Everything I’ve seen so far suggests you know what you’re doing. That’s what I’m looking for. Results, not certificates.”

“You know, that certificate means I know what corporate environments are like from the inside. It sounds like you could use that perspective.”

Erik sighed. “Maybe we could. Look, I’m not going to fire you for having an MBA. I’m just not interested in hiring more insiders in a company that basically only hires insiders anymore.”

“And I’m an insider?”

“In the sense that you’re a twenty-one-year-old white male with an MBA? Yes. Now, are we good, or do I need to reschedule my one o’clock?”

Charles crossed his arms. “We’re good.”

“Good. Then I’ll see you after lunch.”

Charles watched him leave, in a hurry as always, and wondered how things could have gone wrong so quickly.

*

The rest of the week went by with considerably less excitement than Charles’ first day. Knowing that Erik didn’t trust his qualifications took a bit of the thrill of the new job off, but there was plenty to do and the work was fascinating. The elevator remained functional, Erik sent him dozens of terse but civil emails a day and looked constantly harried, and Kitty turned out to be a phenomenal coworker. She did give him quite a scare one morning by walking straight through the wall of their shared office.

“Sorry. Phasing’s faster than walking all the way around from the elevator. Erik’s right, this place is a maze.”

“It’s all right. You just startled me. I didn’t know what your mutation was. Or anyone’s aside from Angel’s, I suppose.”

“You haven’t seen her spit fire yet. Literally.” Kitty sat down heavily in her office chair, making it spin in circles. “I’m surprised Erik didn’t tell you about his. Normally he loves showing off.”

“What does he do?”

“Metal. Angel and I have bets on whether he’s actually magnetic or just a really specific kind of telekinetic. Like, does he have to concentrate on not sticking to the filing cabinets?”

Charles laughed. “And you can walk through walls?”

“And other solid material. What about you?”

“Telepath. I know that bothers some people.”

“Nah, it’s good. Erik’s big on not forcing anyone to suppress their powers, so you’re in the right place.”

“At least there’s that.” Charles didn’t hold out much hope on winning back Erik’s favor.

“Don’t worry about Erik. I think he’s just a bit lost in the business world, what with coming from nonprofit and getting used to running his own shop. He’s just not in his element.”

Charles raised an eyebrow. “He certainly acts like he knows what he’s doing.”

Kitty snorted. “Sure, as much as any of us do. I think he’s one bad board meeting away from tearing the building apart and going back to direct action. Anyway, whatever he acts like, he must like you. Angel and I couldn’t believe how fast he hired you.”

“I guess that’s good to hear. Though I won’t be around much longer if we don’t get this training plan together.”

“Good point. Did you see that copy of the current new hire packet Erik sent us?”

“I did.” Charles turned back to his desk and opened the email. If he couldn’t solve the problem of his boss, at least he could do the job he’d been hired to do.

*

“This looks good,” Kitty said as she clicked through their presentation one last time. “We’re going to nail it.”

“I certainly hope so. What time is it?”

Kitty glanced at the clock. “Shit. It’s almost seven. I’ve got to go, Rachel will be waiting. Are you headed to the train?”

Charles shook his head. “I’m going to stay behind for a bit. I want to run something by Erik before the presentation. Don’t worry, I’ll save all the good parts for tomorrow.”

“You’d better. Good luck with Erik. And don’t stay too late!”

“I won’t. Have fun on your date.”

Kitty gave him the peace sign as she leaves.

Their proposal was solid. It was manageable, effective, and it would be a decided improvement over the existing diversity training program. But Charles knew Technogenesis needed more than an annual refresher course on implicit biases and the latest correct terminology – it needed a change in culture. He had an idea.

As he suspected, Erik was still at his desk. He knocked on the doorframe.

“Hi. Do you have a minute?”

“Give me a second.” Erik continued typing urgently for a moment, then glanced at Charles. “What is it?”

“I wanted to run something by you. It’s supplemental to the training program, so I decided not to include it in the presentation tomorrow.”

Erik finally looked away from his laptop screen. “Go for it.”

“I’d like to host a facilitated dialogue sponsored by the Mutant Affairs Department. Mutant and baseline Technogenesis employees discussing their concerns, prejudices, and misconceptions together, but in a safe and structured environment. It’s the best way to build trust, and I think it will help the rest of the training program stick.”

Erik remained expressionless. “You want mutants to answer questions about their personal lives from people who haven’t the first clue what being a mutant is like?”

“Sort of. On a strictly volunteer basis. No one is forced to participate. And there’s a moderator present – a mutant, of course – to oversee the conversation. Obviously no one would have to answer derogatory questions, or anything they’re uncomfortable with. It’s a well-tested technique.”

Erik sighed heavily. “It’s naïve.”

“Excuse me?”

“We can’t ask people to just share their experiences and hope for the best. It’s far too dangerous for mutants to be open about their mutations when humans are so hostile to what they find unfamiliar.”

“I won’t ask anyone to share anything they feel uncomfortable with. I’ll participate myself, even. We just need to get people to talk to each other.”

“We’re not here to hold hands. Humans are just going to have to get used to mutants in the workforce.”

“And this will help with that! It’s a conversation, not a—not a debate on whether mutants should be treated like people.”

“You’re not thinking about how easily it will turn into that. You realize that we’re in the middle of a case of an employee who was wrongfully terminated after revealing she had an invisible mutation?”

“No, I didn’t. But that’s exactly what I’m trying to combat—”

“We’re not doing it. I appreciate you putting in the effort, but we’re not asking people to put their jobs on the line. I’ll see you at the presentation tomorrow.”

“Erik—”

“Don’t push it, Charles.”

Furious, Charles opened his mouth, then decided against it.

“Fine. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

*

When Charles arrived at work the next day, the office was in chaos. The lobby was inexplicably packed with people, and there seemed to be more security officers than usual. Uncharacteristically, Erik’s office door was also closed and locked. Emotions always ran high at a company known for its intensity, but the full force of tangled, heightened emotions today gave Charles a headache almost as soon as he entered the building.

“What’s going on?” he asked, seeing Kitty and Angel standing by the department coffeemaker. “It’s madness downstairs.”

“A former employee was killed. The one from the wrongful dismissal case Erik and I were working on.” Angel’s eyes were glassy with tears.

“Erik canceled the presentation,” Kitty added. “I think he knew her.”

Angel nodded. “They were friends back in his activist days.”

“Good lord. That’s terrible. What happened?”

Kitty shifted her weight. “Her boyfriend murdered her. It sounds like he didn’t know she was a mutant either.”

“That’s…God, that’s horrible. Is there anything we can do?”

Angel shrugged miserably. “I don’t think so. She technically didn’t work here anymore, and her boyfriend was never an employee. It’s not under our jurisdiction.”

“What department did she work in?”

“Um…I think she did user experience testing?”

“We should talk to her coworkers. See if they’ll help organize a vigil. Judging by the crowd in the lobby, people are angry, and we can channel that. If we can’t hold Technogenesis directly accountable, we can at least pressure them into making a statement.”

Angel rubbed her eyes. “You’re right. We can’t let this be ignored or forgotten as soon as the next story breaks.”

“I can go talk to her coworkers,” Kitty said.

Angel nodded. “I’ll start contacting the press. Charles, can you start getting the word out about the vigil? And we’ll have to find somebody to talk.”

“Of course. What about Erik? Does anyone know where he is?”

Kitty shook her head. “He’s not answering his phone. I’ll text him what our plan is in case he turns up, though.”

Charles nodded. “I’m so sorry, Angel. It sounds like you and Erik knew her pretty well.”

“Not really. I didn’t, at least. It’s just…it’s awful, that shit like this still happens.”

“It’s terrifying,” Kitty added.

“At least we can do something. Even if it’s small. Even if it feels like nothing in comparison to the problem.”

“It’s a start,” Kitty agreed. Turning to Charles, she asked, “Are you sure you’ll be okay here today?”

“Me? I’ll be fine.”

“But you can feel all of it, right? What everyone else is feeling?”

Charles hesitated. “I can, yes. But I can block most of it out. For today, anyway.”

“Jesus,” Angel said. “I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

“It’s all right. Really. I want to stay and help.”

“Tell us if you need a break,” Kitty said. “Let’s get started. I’ll let you know if Erik gets in touch.”

The rest of the day was a haze of phone calls, news articles, and social media posts, all blurred by the constant barrage of thoughts at Charles’ mental shields. He felt like he’d been at work for eighty hours, not eight. But it felt good to be doing something, anything. It stopped him from thinking about the conversation he’d had with Erik the night before.

He'd been so sure he was right, that his idea would work. He’d thought Erik was being cynical and overly cautious. Now, it seemed, he’d been wrong. Dangerously wrong. Exactly as naïve as Erik had accused him of being.

He shook off the thought and went back to emailing Technogenesis execs.

By the time of the vigil that evening, Technogensis had released a statement condemning the murder. It was vaguely worded and promised no concrete action, but it was out there. And there were people at the vigil – many more than Charles had expected. It felt like half the city had shown up.

Kitty and Angel had both decided to speak, but Charles, finding he had nothing to say, was watching from the crowd of people that had gathered. His temples throbbed from the effort of keeping his mental shields in place.

“Charles?”

Surprised, Charles turned his head and saw Erik standing next to him.

“Erik. I’m so sorry. Angel said you knew her?”

“A little. We weren’t very close, but…”

“Still. It’s awful.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry I wasn’t in today. I just—I couldn’t think about what I might have done differently.”

“Oh, Erik, no. You and Angel did everything in your power. No part of this is on you. If anything, the work you do ensures this doesn’t happen more often.”

“There’s always more to do. Things I could have done better.” Erik shook his head. “I can’t believe Technogenesis made a statement. I never thought they’d acknowledge this.”

“Well, it took some convincing.”

Erik’s head snapped up. “That was you?”

“With Kitty’s and Angel’s help. They got the user experience department to pressure the directors. And Angel did all of the talking to the press.”

“The three of you organized all of this?”

Charles nodded.

“I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. It’s our job, and more than that, it was the right thing to do.” Charles took a deep breath. “Listen, Erik…I want to apologize for our conversation last night. I didn’t take you seriously, and I should have. Clearly. Things are worse than I knew. I’m sorry.”

“No.” Erik spoke slowly, considering each word. “You don’t need to apologize. I’ve been thinking about it. What we’re doing isn’t working, at least not as well as it could. I don’t want to put people at risk, but we need to try new things. Your idea – it’s as good a place to start as any.”

“Erik, I’d feel terrible if something happened. You were right – there’s too much chance it could go wrong.”

“I still don’t want to put others in a position where they’re responsible for educating their coworkers at risk to themselves,” Erik said. “But I’ll be a part of it. We’ll try it. A test run. If it works out, we’ll scale it up. Yes?”

“Yes. If you’re sure.”

“I am. I mean, you got Technogenesis to make a public statement. That’s a huge step. And all these people are here.” Erik gestured at the crowd around them. “They can’t all be mutants.”

“No, they’re not.”

“Things are always worse than we fear. But in some ways, they’re better than we hoped, too. Maybe Technogenesis is ready to change, or nearly there.”

Charles doesn’t know if it’s Erik’s words, the stress of the day, or emotion bleeding through from the crowd, but he feels tears prick his eyes.

“I hope you’re right. Look, Kitty’s about to speak.”

Kitty stepped up to the small microphone in front of the crowd and drew a shaky breath.

“I'm Jewish,” she said. She squared her shoulders and continued.

“I don't have a quote-unquote Jewish-sounding name. I don't look or sound Jewish, whatever that looks or sounds like...so if you didn't know I was Jewish, you might not know. Unless I told you. Same goes for my mutation. I don't have to wear a visor or have blue fur all over me. I can walk around. Just a young woman of the world. But I'm not.” She paused for a moment, looking out over the crowd.

“And many of us aren’t. And we deserve to live just like anyone else.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kitty's speech is from All-New X-Men #13 if you want to read the whole thing.


	2. Coda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One year later.

A lot can change in a year.

The vigil was a turning point in many ways. As with all tragedies, it was quickly absorbed into a sea of other tragedies, other problems, other stories equally worthy of attention. But enough people remembered that it made a difference.

The Mutant Affairs Department worked long hours for the next month, but at the end of it, Technogenesis launched an internal investigation on anti-mutant bias. A few weeks later, they gave Erik the green light to hire two more case workers. Six months after that, they announced their first mutant board member in ten years.

“It’s hard to believe I’ve been working here for nearly a year,” Charles said. He and Erik were working late, putting the final touches on the facilitated dialogue program Kitty would lead the next morning. “It feels like I just started, but also like I’ve been here forever.”

“It doesn’t get any less surreal, if you were wondering.”

“I imagine. But it feels like we accomplished something, you know? Things are a little better than they were a year ago.”

“We make a good team,” Erik acknowledged. 

“Even though I have an MBA from the University of Advanced Corporate Evil?”

Erik half-smiled. “Even if you have an MBA.”

“I suppose you’re not too bad either, for the head of a department at a giant, faceless tech company.”

“Thanks.” Erik rolled his eyes. “Seriously, though—thank you. Everything we’ve done this year wouldn’t have happened without you.”

Feeling emboldened, Charles smiled. “Let’s go to dinner. Right now.”

Erik looked at him, expression as unreadable as ever.

“Okay.”

“Wow. I didn’t expect it to be that easy.”

“You could have asked me out during your interview and I would have said yes.”

Charles laughed. “And then have you dump me when you found out I was a corporate sellout?”

Erik waves a hand. “A minor roadblock.”

“Really.”

“You’re the mind-reader. You tell me.” Erik raised an eyebrow.

“In that case...shall we?”

“Lead the way.”

As they headed for the elevator, they heard Kitty’s voice behind them.

“What are you two looking so pleased about?” She got up from her perch on the corner of Angel’s desk and crossed her arms.

Erik turned around. “Can’t we be happy about the state of mutant-human relations in the workforce?”

Angel snorted. “You, happy?”

“If you must know, I successfully asked Erik on a date,” Charles bragged.

“Ha!” Kitty turned to Angel. “I knew it. Twenty bucks.”

“You had a bet on this?” Erik asked.

“There’s a joke about mutant-mutant relations in here somewhere,” Angel said as she reached for her wallet.

“Shut up,” Charles said cheerfully.

“Are we going to dinner or not?” Erik asked.

“Yes. Let’s go.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was meant to be a classic Cherik friends-to-enemies-to-lovers all along, but the plot sort of got in the way. This never happens to me. Who am I?


End file.
